Overview
- The study published June 9 analyzed 13 coprolites from Yukon burrows and recovered environmental DNA dated from about 700,000 to roughly 17,000–30,000 years ago.
- Researchers reconstructed more than 18 mitochondrial genomes, including multiple ground squirrels, six woolly mammoths, horses and steppe bison, by using custom molecular baits and low‑sample extraction strategies.
- The data reveal previously unrecognized ground‑squirrel genetic diversity, including a lineage about 700,000 years old that no longer occurs in the Yukon and is most closely related to populations in western Siberia.
- Authors warn some sequences could reflect surface contamination or vertical leaching into pellets and note gaps in ancient reference genomes, and they say more detailed mammoth and broader genomic analyses are forthcoming with public data release planned.
- The work, done with permission from the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation and funded by multiple grants, shows coprolites can give high‑resolution snapshots of past food webs and that rapid permafrost thaw threatens the remaining buried records.